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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29414334">so you hear them too?</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/blue000jay/pseuds/blue000jay'>blue000jay</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>drabbles [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Compliant, Extended Conversation, Fluff, Hearing The Voices, i took the conversation from earlier today and made it a bit more streamlined and fluffy, it's a family trait okay?</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 11:41:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,264</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29414334</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/blue000jay/pseuds/blue000jay</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ranboo panics, Techno hears voices, and Steve nearly dies.</p><p>To say things get interesting is simplifying it.</p><p>(An extension of the conversation Ranboo initiated with Technoblade today about the voices in his head.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ranboo &amp; Technoblade &amp; Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo &amp; Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Technoblade &amp; Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>drabbles [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2103231</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>753</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Completed stories I've read</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>so you hear them too?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/topazdahlia/gifts">topazdahlia</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>ehehehehehheheh techno categorizes phil and ranboo together as people he cares about. Nothing Can Go Wrong Because of This.</p><p>dedicated to topazdahlia, because i always see you in my comments and you're a blessing &lt;3 much love!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Steve shuffles into the lava, one perilous step from the heat below him, and the next thing Ranboo knows is he’s being told to run and grab potions. And Ranboo is good at both of those things: running and getting items. So he does them. He vaults over the obsidian path, long legs hitting the ground with even thumps as his stride lengthens and he bolts down the way. Techno’s voice transfers from the rough, in-person tone it has to something more tinny, a voice in his ear as the communicator picks up the signal and transmits it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t step to the left, Steve,” Techno says, and he’s joking, but there’s a layer of tension under his words that Ranboo picks up on with ease. It comes with living in his backyard for the past few months. Almost... six, actually. Wow. “That’s a lotta lava under you. Fire resistance? Good idea, chat.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That is a good idea. Yep, yep, yep,” Ranboo agrees, the ingredients flickering across in his mind. Melons. Magma cream. Then, he picks up on the word. Chat. Both Phil and Techno mutter to themselves, Ranboo knows, and that’s a common phrase he’s just sort of gotten used to. But now, after everything--</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know,” Ranboo continues, a grunt echoing in his ear as Techno acknowledges his voice. He steps though the Nether portal, icy wind of the tundra hitting his skin. He ignores it, tugs out a pearl, chucks it to get a head start toward their home. “I have a quick question if you don’t mind. You said something about, uhm, how you… uhm. How you hear voices?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.” The answer is monotone and easy, and Ranboo lets out a breath. Okay. So he had understood him right. His body rushes as the pearl hits snow and he immediately bolts, house on the horizon. He doesn't have to think to start brewing-- just simply checks there’s blaze powder in the vial and shoves glass bottles under the drip.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh!” He exhales again, shoving a pod of nether wart into the top. “Me too.” He ignores the intake of breath from the other side of the communicator. “So, like. Who is it? Who’s your.. who do you hear? When you hear the voices?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Techno’s tone is still tense, but now there’s something. A layer of curiosity. “Well, I don’t really know. There’s too many, usually, too fast. Sometimes it’s just E.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Like… the letter?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, a violin. That’s what’s happenin’ right now, and it</span>
  <em>
    <span> ain’t helpful.</span>
  </em>
  <span>” The last few words are clearly not for Ranboo, and he chuckles nervously, fingers shaking as he throws open a chest, sorting through it for melons. They glisten at the bottom, nearly slip through his hands as he picks them up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hhhuh,” he says, ignoring how the glitter of the melons lingers on his fingers as he smushes them into the top of the brewing stand. The earpiece crackles. “So it’s not one singular voice?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nah. I can’t really single them out. It’s more like a crowd.” Something on the other end of the line shuffles, and Techno huffs, a breath of air making Ranboo’s head fill with the sound of static. It’s better than what he’s trying to avoid, after all. The ringing in his ears, his head, the panic from earlier when he’d heard--</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, okay then,” he says, watching the potion below him turn a healthy pink. He sprinkles a bit of gunpowder in through the top. His fingers are still shaking, but his head is a bit clearer. He knows how to do potion, and he has a clear goal. Get potion, save Steve, get home. It’s routine. He can handle this.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why? Who do you hear?” Again, curiosity rings over the line, a telephone call that Ranboo is not sure if he wants to answer. And yet--</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dream,” he says, before he can stop himself. “He tells me things.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You hear Dream?” Techno snorts, sounding mildly amused. “That loser?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Ranboo admits, laughing a tiny bit himself. Of course Techno wouldn’t give up the opportunity to call Dream a loser.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s weird,” Techno says, and there’s more shuffling as he either adjusts or places a block; based on the muted cry of a ghast he can hear next, it’s probably the latter. Ranboo tugs a potion out of the brewing stand and grabs a glass bottle-- empty. He forces back a swear and pushes the doors open, darting outside and to the small pond in front of the house. The water is icy and nearly burns his finger tips, but the bottles fill. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ranboo snorts at Techno’s sentiment-- he can’t help himself. “You’re telling me!” He says, letting out a shaky breath and returning inside, putting the bottles in place. Magma cream next. It soothes the burns on his fingertips from filling the bottles as he scoops it into the brewing stand. “He, uh. He usually only shows up when I’m near… obsidian? Or surrounded by it. Like. Earlier.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“In the egg room,” Techno prompts. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“In… the egg room.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I see.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Techno is obviously awkward here, but Ranboo can feel himself calming down as he does his task and talks so, fuck it, he keeps going. “I’ve been-- well, you’ve probably seen it. But I’ve been kind of… entering a state, lately. I call it the Enderwalk.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is that when you lurk in the background?” Techno asks, snickering a bit. Ranboo laughs, awkward, rubbing his neck slightly as he watches the potion turn a gentle pink, then darken into orangey-red. He sprinkles in gunpowder, gives it a moment, then gathers all the bottles up and slips them into his inventory.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The snow is cold against his feet as he runs across the tundra again, tossing a pearl ahead of him. “Sort of. I’m sleepwalking, I think. I. Uh. Visited Dream, once, while I was asleep, I know that. Sam told me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You visited Dream… in your sleep.” Techno’s voice is flat again. Ranboo nods, then remembers that Techno can’t see him and instead huffs out a confirmation. The wind is cold-- his voice is raspy as he speaks, out of breath from both running and being in the chill.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sort of? I’ve been doing… something. I don’t really hear his voice anymore except for when I was down by the Egg, just now, it really, hah, it really threw me off, to be honest, and I was just panicking, I thought I’d hear the Egg, you know, but it wasn’t, it was him, and he said I did a bunch of bad things even though I know I didn’t--”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Like how you think you blew up the Community House?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ranboo swallows. “And like how I had one of Tommy’s discs.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“.... you know Phil and I don’t care, right?” Techno sounds faintly amused, and Ranboo ducks through the Nether portal again. It’s once again hot, suffocating as he takes a split second to get his balance back and glance around the netherrack-laden hills. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know! I know you don’t. But I think I’m helping him, somehow. Dream. And I can’t figure it out, because I’m always sleepwalking and I wake up somewhere else and I just--”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And you hear voices,” Techno finishes for him, cutting him off. There’s another grunt from the other end of the line. It’s clearer now that they’re in the same dimension, and Ranboo jogs up the cobble path. “Welp. Sounds like you’re crazy to me.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” His heart practically stops, but his feet carry on.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mmmmhm. Just as crazy as Phil and I. Maybe Bad, too, but hell, I think that’s more of a situational thing than anything. He just got indoctrinated into the Egg’s pyramid scheme. Less crazy, more bored-suburban-mom.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ranboo skids to a stop on the wooden and netherrack bridge, staring down at Techno, who’s hiding behind a stone barrier to keep the ghasts away. Below them, Steve, and below Steve, bubbling lava. Ranboo equips a health potion, and gently tosses it down. The pink sparkles against the bear’s fur. “You think I’m crazy?” He asks, breathless, tearing his communicator piece out of his ear. Techno does the same, plucking it from the side of his head and away on his belt. He never looks up from Steve as he does so.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course,” he says, shifting a bit and tugging on Steve’s leash. “Do you have stone? Actually, I do--”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You think I’m crazy,” Ranboo repeats lightly, as Techno builds up a few blocks. He unequips another potion, fire resistance this time, and gently pours it over Steve as well. Orange mixes with pink. The bear is now resistant to fire. He stares, panic settling in, cold as ice against his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure do,” Techno grunts, and slowly, pulls Steve up and out of the hole by the leash. It’s a feat for sure, and Ranboo hesitantly reaches out to guide Steve onto the platform again. “Like I said. Just as crazy as Phil and I. I mean, look at us. We’re saving a polar bear from burning to death. That’s pretty insane.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But the voices--”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t represent who you are. Sure, they may be scary and sometimes annoyin’-- yeah, chat, I’m talking to you-- but they’re not a reflection of who you are.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Something in Techno’s words settles Ranboo, as the older man equips his pickaxe and takes down his stone tower, hand gripping Steve’s leash tightly. He himself sinks a gloved, armor-clad hand into Steve’s fur, feels the potion effect tingle against his skin and the warmth of a bear that really shouldn’t be in Hell. He leans against him slightly, pulling out a potion and handing it over after a second. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But what if I do bad things?” He asks after a minute. “When I’m sleepwalking? Because of the voice?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You think Phil and I haven’t done bad things because of our voices?” Techno asks, and slowly, they start to make their way across the rickety bridge of wood and hastily-placed netherrack. “We blew up L’Manberg.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know,” Ranboo said. “I was there. But that wasn’t because of your voices--”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wasn’t it?” Techno asks, and the lava burbles beneath them. Steve’s weight makes the boards underneath their feet wobble. “What do you think made Wilbur go crazy? And-- don’t tell Phil I’m tellin’ you this, but what do you think made Phil agree to kill him?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ranboo sits on that one for a while. They get off the wooden bridge. The cobble is warm under their feet, and the lava is gone. “Peer pressure,” Ranboo finally says with as much ironic cheer as an employee on Black Friday. Steve bumps against him as they avoid a flickering pile of flaming netherrack. In front, Techno leads, walking backwards and occasionally glancing behind so he doesn’t trip. He’s watching Ranboo. “But that doesn’t make sense,” he continues. “What you just told me. You say the voices-- or voice, in my case, you say it’s not a representation of who we are, and yet you give me pretty memorable moments of you two and say it’s the voice’s fault, I-- I don’t understand what you’re trying to tell me here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It seems I have failed my mission as sensei,” Techno drawls, turning his head to peer behind him as the portal comes into view. “Look, Ranboo. I don’t think you’re crazy, alright? Sure, you’re a little odd. And maybe you needed to get some things off your chest. I’m fine with that. I get it. I really do.” He falls silent, and gently, Ranboo gives Steve a nudge. He goes through the portal, the familiar whoosh filling both of their ears. Ranboo stands there for a moment, hesitating.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I just don’t want to be a bad person,” he admits quietly. Beside him, Techno rocks back on his heels. A second later, there’s a warm hand on his shoulder, fingers clinking against the metal of Ranboo’s armor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If it’s any consolation,” Techno says, and his voice is oddly gentle. “I don’t think you’re a bad person. I think you’re pretty good.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks,” Ranboo says. It’s silent again for a moment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m only bein’ sentimental for another minute,” Techno says abruptly, and his hand leaves Ranboo’s shoulder but he comes into view now, staring at him. Ranboo doesn’t like eye contact-- it makes him uncomfortable, but yet, Techno’s gaze doesn’t particularly bother him. Not even when he lifts two fingers, holding them to his own eyes and then jabbing them in Ranboo’s direction. “So listen. I’ll keep an eye on you, okay? When you’re in that-- what did you call it? Enderwalk? I’ll keep an eye out and stop you from goin’ anywhere you shouldn’t be going. And in return, the next time you hear Dream’s voice in your head, you tell him he’s a homeless loser. Deal?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s smiling, even if he doesn’t want to be. “Deal,” Ranboo mutters, and Techno nods.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s that, then,” he says, and shuffles a step backwards into the portal. Steve is waiting on the other side-- so is home. He feels better at least knowing that Techno knows-- that Techno understands. He thinks Techno might understand a little more than Ranboo first thought; the look on his face when they were talking about L’Manberg, how it correlated to the look on his face whenever he looked at the turtle-shell helmet he kept badly hidden in the basement. Yeah. Ranboo thinks maybe Techno understands what it means to be scared of being a bad person.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He takes two steps forward and back into the snowy hills they call home.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hope you enjoyed! feel free to leave kudos/comments, i really love hearing your thoughts!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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